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U. I . QmJ, Juxi oj; ila. Ccx^jLk. 

)th Congress, ) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. J Document 
%d Session . • j (No. 1499. 


UNDERGROUND TRANSPORTATION BETWEEN CAPITOL 
AND CERTAIN OTHER PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 


LETTER FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE CAPITOL BUILD¬ 
ING AND GROUNDS TRANSMITTING PRELIMINARY REPORT 
RELATING TO UNDERGROUND TRANSPORTATION BETWEEN 
THE CAPITOL AND CERTAIN OTHER PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 


March 3, 1909.—Ordered to be printed with illustrations. 


Office of Superintendent 
United States Capitol Building and Grounds, 

Washington , D. 6'., March 3 , 1909. 

Dear Sir: I beg to submit the following preliminary report on the 
resolution introduced by Mr. Greene in the House of Representatives 
January 5, 1909, which resolution reads as follows: 

Resolved , That the Superintendent of the Capitol inquire into and report thereon 
to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds the most practicable method for 
underground transpor ation to and from the Capitol, the Senate and House Office 
Buildings, the Union Railroad Station, the contemplated post-office building, and 
the Government Printing Office. 

I have examined into the question of subways between the Capitol 
Building and the several buildings named in the resolution. I find 
that it is entirely feasible to connect the Capitol Building, the Senate and 
House Office buildings with the Union Station, the proposed new post- 
office, and the Government Printing Office, and that the construction of 
a subway would not cross the line of private property; hence the right 
of way would cost nothing. 

I present a general scheme herewith, in the form of a blueprint, 
upon which is marked the existing subways between the Capitol and 
office buildings, colored yellow, and the proposed new subways, colored 
red. 

Roughly estimated, I find that there will be about 4,800 linear feet of 
construction. It is impossible to determine the exact cost of the pro¬ 
posed subway extensions until the type of subway is determined. I 
feel justified in recommending the type of subway now existing 
between the Capitol and the office buildings. Upon that basis 1 esti¬ 
mate the approximate cost of construction at $500,000. 

You will note on the plans I have laid out one section of the new 
subway directly between the Senate and House Office buildings and 




























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(iSf y 


UNDERGROUND TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM THE CAPITOL. 


, have connected up the other sections of the subway with the substation 
at the Senate Office Building. Suitable substations have already been 
constructed at each of the office buildings, with the idea in view that 
perhaps some day other subway construction would connect up with 
other buildings and the Capitol. 

I consider a subway between the Printing Office and the Senate 
Office Building, thereby connecting with the Capitol Building, to be 
entremel} 7 desirable. The new section of the subway proposed, 
between the House and Senate Office buildings and running directly 
across the Capitol grounds, will surely come in the near future. 

The immense volume of transportation between the Capitol and 
Government Printing Office is now handled by wagons. It could be 
handled much more easily by subway transportation, owing to the 
fact that if subways like those existing are continued they are avail¬ 
able for a double-track transportation scheme which will enable the 
service to be carried on at less expense and with great promptness. 

Assuming the subways to be built, the question of transportation 
next presents itself. Two methods are available: A double-track 
narrow-gauge system, electrically operated, or a system lately intro¬ 
duced known as the monorail system, electrically operated. I have 
had our consulting engineer look into the matter for me and he has 
obtained certain information, from which I have extracted the follow¬ 
ing memorandum of comparison made bv the chief engineer of the 
American Monorail Company: 

The line proposed is an underground railway in Washington, D. C., from the 
House Office Building to the Government Printing Office, with stations at the Senate 
Office Building and Union Station. The total length of the line is approximately 
4,500 feet. 

To arrive at a fair comparison between the cost of construction and operation of a 
narrow-gauge electric railway and a monorail road, the following assumptions have 
been made: 

1. The road to be double track. 

2. That each car body be similar except for special constructional details covered 
by the patents of the American Monorail Company. 

3. That the current be returned through a copper conductor or trolley wire instead 
of through the ground rail. 

4. That the 60-pound rail of the monorail will wear longer than the rails of the 
narrow-gauge road, especially on curves, owing to the small amount of flange friction. 

5. That a saving of power consumption of at least 25 per cent will be effected by 
the material reduction of weight, friction, and oscillation. 

6. That the monorail car, despite the fact that its motors will develop 200 horse¬ 
power, will weigh fully 3,000 pounds less than the narrow-gauge car which will gen¬ 
erate 160 horsepower. 

7. That the total resistance of the monorail line conductors is only 0.25 ohms, as 
compared with 0.35 ohms for the narrow-gauge line. With 100 amperes consumption 
this would indicate a line loss of 4.5 per cent for the monorail, as compared with 6.3 

) per cent. 

8. That assumptions 5, 6, and 7 indicate that the monorail will be capable of much 
greater speed with no greater power output at the generator. 


1 UNDERGROUND TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM THE CAPITOL. 3 
ESTIMATED COST OF TRACK AND ELECTRIC CONDUCTORS. 




% 

Narrow 

gauge. 

Monorail. 

2 70# T rails. 

$5,625 


1 60# Shanghai rail. 

82,415 
180 

Splice joints and bolts. 

420 
160 
2,160 

Spikes'. 

3*600 ties, 6 feet long. 


3,600 concrete ties, 20 inches long.. 

1,260 

2 #00 trolley wires.T. 

1,322 

1 #00 trolley wire for return circuit. 

661 

1,674 

780 

700 

500 

2 2£ inches by 2£ inches L steel guide rails. 


Overhead suspension material... 

770 

1,350 

400 

Laving rail. 

Erecting overhead material. 

Total. 

12,207 

8,170 



ESTIMATED COST OF CARS. 


Car body... 

83,000 
3,250 

82,800 

2 trucks with four 40-horsepower motors, etc. 

2 monorail trucks with eight 25-borsepower motors. 

2,975 

4 trolley stands, poles, etc. 

120 

2 overhead trucks and collectors. 

200 

Cars, each. 


6,370 

5,975 


In conclusion I will state that without giving any further details on 
this matter, the proposition suggested by the resolution is feasible and 
desirable. 

Very respectfully, Elliott Woods, 

Superintendent United States 
Capitol Building and Grounds. 

Hon. Richard Bartholdt, 

Chairman Comm ittee on Public Buildings 

and Grounds , House of Representatives. 



























































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House ® oc No. 1^99 ; 60th Cong., 2d Sess. 

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